Antara 28 Jun 13;
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The number of hot spots that cause forest fires in several locations in Riau Province has been decreasing from 50 last week to only 19, spokesman to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Agus Wibowo said here on Friday.
According to a recent survey by the agency, most of the existing hot spots are located in Pelalawan District and Dumai.
"Our focus now is on extinguishing forest fires in the two areas. Today four choppers will be deployed to Pelalawan district and Dumai city to initiate water bomb above the area," he said.
A total of Rp100 billion has been allocated for making rain, procuring materials and providing planes to conduct water bombing to fight forest and land fires in Riau province.
"The government would lease planes from Korea and Russia that are able to carry 4,000 to 5,000 liters of water for water bombing operations," Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono said after a coordination meeting to discuss the problem here on last Thursday (June 27).
The meeting at the Forestry Ministry was attended by Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan, the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI)`s Commander Admiral Agus Suhartono, Environmental Affairs Minister Balthazar Kambuaya, Deputy Foreign Minister Wardana, and officials from the police force, the Attorney General Office.
Also the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the national development planning board (Bappnenas), the Agency for Technology Assessment and Application (BPPT), the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan), the ministry of research and technology, the ministry of agriculture and from Jambi, South Sumatra and South Kalimantan provincial administrations.
Agung said the meeting did not only discuss fires in Riau but also anticipatory measures in eight other provinces.
Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan meanwhile said 14 people were currently being questioned with regard to the fires. They consist of 11 persons from plantation companies and three from local communities.
"If proven guilty they could be jailed for five years and have their permits revoked," he said.
He said the government is now still focusing on fighting the fires and is expecting support from all parties.
"We need support from all parties and all companies must protect their forests from fires," he said.
(Uu.A051/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Forest fires in Riau reach 16,500 hectares
Antara 28 jun 13;
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Forest fires in Riau Province from the period of June 1 to 26 reached 16,500 hectares of area, Riau Province`s Chief of Forestry Office Zulkufki Yusuf said here on Friday.
"We have kept updating the data. The number of forest area on fire maybe increasing," he said.
According to recent data from the local forestry service, there are six areas which have the most number of its forest area on fire namely Bengkalis District (6,300 hectares), Rokan Hilir (6,195 hectares), Rokan Hulu (900 hectares), Siak (892 hectares), Indragiri Hulu (510 hectares) and Pelalawan (250 hectares).
Apart from that, Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau Province, is also experiencing forest fires with four hectares of its area being burnt.
Earlier spokesman to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Agus Wibowo said the number of hot spots that caused forest fires in several locations in Riau Province has been decreasing from 50 last week to only 19.
According to a recent survey by the agency, most of the existing hot spots are located in Pelalawan District and Dumai.
"Our focus now is on extinguishing forest fires in the two areas. Today four choppers will be deployed to Pelalawan district and Dumai city to initiate water bomb above the area," he said.
The government has allocated Rp100 billion for making artificial rains, procuring materials and providing planes to conduct water bombing to fight forest and land fires in Riau Province.
(Reporting by FB Anggoro/translating and editing by Amie Fenia Arimbi/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Riau remains on alert as sky gets clearer
Rizal Harahap, The Jakarta Post 29 Jun 13;
The Riau Haze Task Force claimed on Friday that the land and aerial fire-fighting operation had begun showing positive results.
Task force commander Brig. Gen. Teguh Rahardjo said the success was measured by the reduction in the number of hot spots, improving air quality indexes and improved visibility at the worst-hit haze locations.
Speaking at the Roesmin Nurjadin Air Base, Teguh said air quality indexes in a number of cities had also dropped and shown further reduction in airborne pollutants. In Dumai, the air quality index, which reached 688 pollutant standards index (PSI) previously, dropped to 236 PSI on Thursday.
In Duri, Bengkalis regency, the index, which exceeded 1,000 PSI on June 20, has since dropped to 149 PSI.
“Visibility in Dumai, which was less than 100 meters on June 20, has gradually improved to 900 meters and the farthest at 10 kilometers,” said Teguh.
Despite the improving situation, he added that the fire-fighting operation was still ongoing. Besides deploying three helicopters for water bombing and surveillance missions, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) and the Technology Application and Assessment Agency (BPPT) have continued cloud seeding by making two sorties over Kuantan Singingi, Indragiri Hulu, Siak and Bengkalis regencies.
On Friday, however, there were six hot spots compared to Thursday’s two.
Riau Forestry Agency head Zulkifli Yusuf said the razed area in Riau had reached more than 16,000 hectares since June 1.
The worst condition was reported in Rokan Hilir and Bengkalis at 6,195 hectares and 6,300 hectares, respectively.
“This is just temporary data that is still being updated by the forestry agency, Natural Resources and Conservation Center and the Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency,” said Zulkifli.
He declined to elaborate on whether the razed areas were state-owned land, production forests, former forest concession areas or oil palm plantations.
He only mentioned that 502 hot spots detected in Riau since June 1 were located in non-forest areas, while 993 other hot spots were in forested areas, including 114 detected in conservation areas such as protected forests and natural preserves.
18 suspects detained over forest fires
Antara 28 Jun 13;
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Police have arrested 18 suspects in connection with forest and land fires in the Sumatran province of Riau.
"Four of them were arrested on Thursday while others days before," Riau Police Command spokesman Adjunct Senior Commissioner Hermansyah said to Antara here on Friday.
Police arrested two suspects in Bengkalis, 11 in Rokan Hilir, two in Pelalawan and one in Siak.
"The latest two arrests were made in Dumai town," he said.
They were all arrested for allegedly clearing land by burning for plantations.
Hermansyah said their cases were still being processed in their respective police regions, adding that the number of suspects could still increases.
"Efforts would continue to be done to arrest those found clearing land by burning that has caused fires and haze blanketing Riau and also Singapore and Malaysia," he said.
(H-YH/F001)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
